For the last 2 weeks, I’ve noticed a disturbing new trend at Coles.
Whilst I often peruse the new weekly specials catalogue on the website, sometimes I haven’t had time, so just grab a catalogue from the store on the way in to do my shop.
For the last 2 weeks, I’ve noticed that the printed catalogue at the store is much reduced compared to what’s usually printed. The first week, I thought there had been a printing error, and maybe I only had half a catalogue. Being time poor, I pretty much just forgot about it, but this week’s printed catalogue is also only 16 pages long. (Specials finish tomorrow night.)
So I’ve done a comparison with the website catalogue. (Not so time poor tonight!!)
The website catalogue has a total of 338 grocery-type specials, including alcohol, plus 14 phone offers and 12 Best Buy internet only specials.
The printed catalogue has a grand total of 144 grocery-type specials, including alcohol. (All these specials tick off with the website catalogue-nothing different. Page numbers/arrangements differ greatly in some cases, so not even the same layout.) No phone or Best Buy offers illustrated.
I find this really disturbing, especially right now when so many people are finding it hard to make ends meet-myself included-and time poor, when they might not have the time to either check the online catalogue/app, or to shop every aisle for what’s reduced in price.
When the supermarkets stopped delivering catalogues to letterboxes, they advised they would still be available instore. Seems now they are bending the truth quite a bit…
I know Coles is trying to steer customers to the website and the online catalogue. Coles does have a “Together to Zero” greenhouse gas emissions strategy. The aim is to get to zero by 2050. Part of that strategy is to reduce its carbon footprint wherever they can. That includes paper use and by association the printed catalogue. Coles has actually stopped home distribution of their catalogue in many suburbs, if not all suburbs.
I haven’t done a comparison like you have, but I have noticed the printed catalogue has been decidedly thinner than usual in recent weeks.
Woolworths is pushing their app really really hard. They want you using the app because of surveillance capitalism i.e. they get more information about you and that information has value to them (but they are not as such paying you for that information).
With the app they get information about what you looked at and how long you looked at it and details about your looking at it … and information about what you searched for etc. etc. etc.
In some cases they will on-sell that information to the supplier, who can use it to refine their advertising etc.
With the app they can also push information at you.
With the app the potential even exists to offer per-customer pricing.
With the paper catalogue they can’t even distinguish between … it went straight into the recycling … and … you read it carefully cover to cover.
One of the considerations of paper catalogues (or junk mail) is the amount produced. In Australia, 8.2 billion articles of junk mail are produced every year (or about one piece per day per person), along with over 650 million articles of addressed promotional mail. Most of this mail is never read and is placed directly into the general waste or recycling bins.
One major supermarket Woolworths says its retail brands deliver 862 million catalogues , or 56,000 tonnes of paper.
It does seem a huge amount of trees/waste needing to be managed which can easily be avoided.
That’s not quite 2 per household per week assuming most Aussie households, or around 10 million have direct access to a Woolies?
Considering also the no junk mail letter boxes and those in regional areas not on a junk mail run. The monthly Woolies glossy style mag would be included? Coles does similar.
Don’t forget Woolworths group was more than the supermarket and includes BWS, Dan Murphy and Big W. The numbers included these as well.
It did depending on which period data comes from. Woolworths has been alcohol free for 2 years?
BWS still occupies many key sites adjoining the local Woolies as it always has. It still relies on the Woolies rewards card. The branding of the divested assets remains core identity. The consumer associates who owns what with the brand labelling first (no change) but now not the same. For shareholders who find value in our recreational gambling and …. no such problem.
The data was from a few years ago, before Endeavour was created. It is worth noting Woolworths is still the second biggest shareholder in the split entity.
While Woolworths Group numbers are likely to have dropped, the overall numbers for these outlets (Woolworths and Endeavour ) would be similar in scale.
To give the numbers some perspective, 8.2 billion pieces of junk mail/marketing material would correspond to between 15,000 to 20,000 semitrailer loads each year. If these trucks were parked bumper to bumper , they would extend from Sydney to Canberra. I am not sure this is sustainable or good use of the worlds resources.
Equally impressive if it was a count of full wheelie bins (recycling of course).
Or millisydharbs.
Practical demonstration of holding capacity not recommended. 
The point I was trying to make with the original post is not about home delivery of catalogues/rubbish/recycling.
Coles are no longer providing the customer that walks in their door with a true representation of their advertised selection of specials for that week. The brochure that’s available at the storefront is less than half the size of the online version.
Yes, I understand that once you’ve perused it, done your shop instore and go home, it will go into the recycling bin. But you’ve at least had the benefit of making decisions on saving some dollars much quicker than having to walk the entire store.
This would be done simply to save money (and also creates less waste).
To create an electronic copy is very cheap, compared to having to print out millions of extra pages.
I anticipate the printed catalogues will contain the more popular items (ones Coles sells more of), whilst the digital versions have more extensive listings. The more popular items are also those likely to attract a customer into a store to shop.
It is also worth noting that the digital catalogues don’t present every product ‘on sale’. The only way to see every product ‘on sale’ is to visit a store and walk the aisles.
Yep. Your point is valid and understood. Subsequent discussion is looking at what is driving that change.
Or you could put it back where you got it, for someone else to use (COVID notwithstanding).
Reduce - stop printing the damned things
Reuse - as suggested in the previous para
Recycle - as you say
Woolworths now has member-only specials. So you probably won’t know about and in any case won’t be able to get the special unless you start down the road of surveillance capitalism.
This is part of a trend away from scattergun advertising (the same message is distributed to a very wide audience, mostly wasted, poor conversion rate) to targeted advertising - hence the decline of free-to-air TV, and mainstream media - and the rise of social media and surveillance capitalism.
